Steve Griffin: Local rivers, quality of life go hand in hand

Steve Griffin

Published
2:02 am EDT, Thursday, June 21, 2018

Members of the Outdoor Writers Association of America take to the St. Marys River, a tributary of the Maumee, in downtown Fort Wayne, Ind., this month, to see first-hand from the 'dragon boat' how the area has restored (and, as cranes attest in the background, continues to restore) its rivers. At right is a replica, 54-foot canal boat also used for river tours by Riverfront Fort Wayne. (Steve Griffin/Hearst Michigan) less

Members of the Outdoor Writers Association of America take to the St. Marys River, a tributary of the Maumee, in downtown Fort Wayne, Ind., this month, to see first-hand from the 'dragon boat' how the area has ... more

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Members of the Outdoor Writers Association of America take to the St. Marys River, a tributary of the Maumee, in downtown Fort Wayne, Ind., this month, to see first-hand from the 'dragon boat' how the area has restored (and, as cranes attest in the background, continues to restore) its rivers. At right is a replica, 54-foot canal boat also used for river tours by Riverfront Fort Wayne. (Steve Griffin/Hearst Michigan) less

Members of the Outdoor Writers Association of America take to the St. Marys River, a tributary of the Maumee, in downtown Fort Wayne, Ind., this month, to see first-hand from the 'dragon boat' how the area has ... more

Steve Griffin: Local rivers, quality of life go hand in hand

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FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- The dateline's a state away, the speakers were not even Michiganders, let alone Midlanders -- but the message was decidedly local.

Although the conservationists spoke of rivers that join here to flow toward Lake Erie, not Lake Huron, the Tittabawassee River, virtually in my backyard, sprang immediately to my mind.

The panel discussion at the annual meeting of the Outdoor Writers Association of America focused on "the local river" -- whatever its name where you live -- and its importance to people individually and collectively.

Virginian Mark Taylor, of the international conservation group Trout Unlimited (which formed on Michigan's Au Sable River), said that 80 percent of the U.S. population lives in communities of populations of 3,000 or more. Fifty percent lives in the nation's 48 largest cities.

The reason? Settlements formed where rivers made transportation easy -- or even just possible.

That's certainly a big reason Midland rose where the Tittabawassee welcomes the addition of the Pine and Chippewa rivers, a place first home to Native Americans and then European traders and settlers.

Trails, roads, railroads, highways, air routes and expressways would come to serve Midland -- but it first formed here because of rivers. And they're still important.

But as communities grew, their rivers became overlooked at best, overused and polluted at worst. Now, in Fort Wayne as in Midland, people are again giving rivers the attention they deserve.

Fort Wayne is separating its storm and sanitary sewers, as did Midland years ago, to avoid contaminated overflows.

It is working, too, to make rivers more appealing -- like Midland, sending out fleets of paddleboats through settings thronged with hikers, skaters, runners, picnickers and others. It's building access points and recreational facilities, and beautifying riverbanks.

As Taylor said, "People want to have a green, clean place to recreate."

And, "Recreational projects create stakeholders, who then care about water and thus have a better understanding of how it all works together."

Change can be dramatic. "Look at the clean water!" burst Dan Wire, riparian maintenance supervisor for the Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation Department, midway through a video presentation. On screen were youngsters wading in a restored urban setting.

"That's our river!" he exuded, his voice conveying a mix of pride and surprise.

"Water offers everyone the opportunity to regenerate, recalibrate and reevaluate what's important in life," said Wire.

A retired teacher, Wire now oversees tours on a recreated 1840s canal boat 54 feet long. He also directed writers into a "dragon boat" not unlike the Chippewa Nature Center's voyageur canoe.

Dipping a paddle, it seems, is experiencing a river, which "helps people believe in the availability, and usefulness, of the river."

This can call for a bit of selling. "People have been programmed to stay away from rivers," Wire said, noting that people have been frightened, sometimes rightly in the past, by pollution and other hazards.

Now in Fort Wayne, as in Midland, business interests have become allies for river care. "Business needs talented employees," said Wire, "and rivers draw them.

"Quality of life is key. The new generation, their number one goal is to live in a neat place. They go to a place that's cool, then get a job and a place to live."

Sound familiar?

See, it's a local story after all.

(Midland's annual River Days celebration, merged with the Balloon Fest to be held at the Tridge this year, takes place Aug. 3-4; the Balloon Fest will be Aug. 2-5.)